WHO Holds Second Emergency Committee Meeting On MERS Virus

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The World Health Organisation held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the outbreak of the MERS coronavirus.

A press conference will be held on Wednesday as the virus begins to worry authorities around the world. This sharpened on Tuesday when two hospital workers were placed under observation in America, where a second victim has been confirmed.

This was only the second WHO emergency committee meeting, following the first in 2009 to deal with the H1N1 virus. For the moment most of the cases, more than 500, have been in Saudi Arabia, but there have been victims in Europe and Asia as well.

http://www.euronews.com/2014/05/14/who-holds-second-emergency-committee-meeting-on-mers-virus/

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1. Twenty Florida Healthcare Workers Tested for MERS Virus

Twenty healthcare workers at 2 hospitals in Orlando, Florida, are being tested for the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) after exposure to a patient who represents the second confirmed case in the United States, hospital officials said today at a news conference.

Two of the healthcare workers at one of the facilities — Dr. P. Phillips Hospital — have already experienced MERS symptoms. One was treated and released for home quarantine yesterday while the other was admitted, according to Geo Morales, a spokesperson for Orlando Health, the nonprofit system that operates the 2 hospitals.

All of the other individuals who were tested also were placed in home isolation for 14 days after they were evaluated for signs and symptoms of MERS.

On May 9, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital admitted a male healthcare worker from Saudi Arabia — where 112 people have died from the virus as of Monday — who experienced MERS symptoms during an airline journey to Orlando to visit relatives. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced yesterday that he later tested positive for MERS-CoV. The patient, aged 44 years, is "doing very well," although he still had a low-grade fever as of Monday night, said Antonio Crespo, MD, the hospital's chief quality officer and an infectious disease specialist, at today's news conference.

Days before his admission, the patient had accompanied another person who underwent a procedure at Orlando Regional Medical Center, which, like Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, is part of Orlando Health.

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/825110